Touchstone 2 - Assignment Essays

Sheet1

Your Answer (75 words or less):

ECON1010 Taking Charge of Your Economic Future

Name:

Unit 2 Touchstone Template

Date:

ANNUAL BUDGET

Note:

Amount

Percent

To increase the height of a row, hover over the bottom border of that row in the far left margin until your cursor becomes and up-down arrow. Then click and drag the bottom border to the desired row height. If you make an error, you can use the shortcut Ctrl + Z to undo it.

Income

$50,000

100%

Expenditure

Housing

Food

Transportation

Education

Utilities

Taxes

Health Care

Family Care

Miscellaneous

Savings

Savings Goal:

Total

PART 1: CREATING A PERSONAL FINANCIAL PLAN

PART 2: REFLECTION QUESTIONS

SCENARIO: Imagine that you are in a position where you need to move—this could be because of a change in job, a need to modify your living arrangements, or something else. In addition to searching for different housing, you want to begin saving for a specific financial goal.

QUESTION 1. In step 4, you selected a time frame to achieve your savings goal. How can you tell that the time frame you chose is realistic? Explain.

Your Answer (75 words or less):

STEP 1: Think about the productivity strategies you’ve learned in this course. Make a mental plan for how you will break down creating your financial plan into smaller steps. Think about ways you can stay organized and be productive. With your ideas in mind, move on to step 2.

QUESTION 2. In step 5, you selected a housing option. Explain the reasons for your housing choice in terms of the following:
• The time frame needed to achieve your savings goal
• Your family’s anticipated living arrangements
• Your desired quality of life
• Any trade-off decisions
• Other

STEP 2: Choose an annual income as a starting point for your financial plan and insert the value in the ANNUAL BUDGET above. Select from the following:
• Use the provided annual income of $50,000.
• Use your current annual income.
• Use the average (or median) income of a career that you’re interested in. Consider doing a quick online search.

QUESTION 3. In step 6, you entered more annual expenditures into the budget.
A. What process did you use to make those choices?
B. How do your expenditures align with the financial goal you selected?

Your Answer (75 words or less):
A.
B.

STEP 3: Choose a financial goal you would like to save for. It can be a short-term goal (1 to 2 years) or a long-term goal (more than 2 years). You’ll use this value in step 4. Select from the following:
• Create an emergency fund of $1,000.
• Save for a vacation that will cost $2,000.
• Save to buy a $15,000 vehicle.
• Save for a down payment of $40,000 to buy a house.
• Save $50,000 for education for you, a spouse, or a child.

QUESTION 4. In step 1, you thought about productivity strategies that you might use to break your annual budget into smaller steps for staying organized and productive.
A. How closely did you follow the plan that you thought about?
B. How does a step-by-step and organized approach help you adjust priorities in a financial plan?
C. How did creating the annual budget draw from productivity strategies that you learned in this course?

Your Answer (150 words or less):
A.
B.
C.

STEP 4: Now set a realistic time frame (in years) for reaching the goal in step 3. The recommended range is one to 10 years. This will yield a required rate of savings:
• To understand your savings rate ($ per year), divide your financial goal by the number of years you plan to save for it.
• Enter the result in the Savings cell of the ANNUAL BUDGET.
• Briefly describe your overall savings goal and the time to achieve it next to the ANNUAL BUDGET in the space provided.

STEP 5: Choose a housing cost (rent or mortgage) and enter the amount in the Housing cell of the ANNUAL BUDGET. Select from the following:
• Pay an annual mortgage of $15,000 per year.
• Rent an apartment for $12,000 per year.
• Rent a room only for $9,000 per year.
• Use your current annual rent or mortgage.

STEP 6: Fill in the other expenditure amounts in the ANNUAL BUDGET according to your preferences. Do some online research, if necessary. For this exercise, be sure to use all the income that you designated ($50,000 or otherwise). Look ahead to step 7 to see how you can use formulas to help you balance your budget as you work.

STEP 7: Your ANNUAL BUDGET may or may not be balanced. To check, do the following:
• Enter a formula to calculate your total expenditures. Adjust your expenditures until the total equals your annual income.
• Next, enter formulas in the percent column to calculate each expenditure as a percentage of the total expenditure.
• Finally, using your ANNUAL BUDGET as a reference, complete the REFLECTION QUESTIONS on the right side of this spreadsheet.

Touchstones are projects that illustrate your comprehension of the course material, help you refine skills, and demonstrate application of knowledge. You can

work on a Touchstone anytime, but you can’t submit it until you have completed the unit’s Challenges. Once you’ve submitted a Touchstone, it will be graded

and counted toward your final course score.

We all have financial goals – buying or renting a home, purchasing a car, paying off a loan, or saving up for a vacation. And it can be challenging to figure out

exactly how to save toward these goals, given the numerous expenses of daily living. A financial plan helps you identify how you can reach your short-term

and long-term goals and leverage planning and organization strategies to make meaningful, incremental progress toward realizing these

goals.

Your goal for this assignment is to build your productivity skill by creating a plan for reaching a specific financial goal within an identified time frame. You will

use productivity strategies to break financial planning into manageable, organized steps. You will use Microsoft Excel to develop a realistic plan aligned to

your financial goal – one that considers economic drivers, requirements, and resources. If you need a refresher on spreadsheets like Excel, review the

tutorials in Unit 1, Challenge 3 of this course (Links are in Section D).

Touchstone 2: Creating a Personal Financial Plan

SCENARIO: Imagine that you are in a position where you need to move – this could be because of a change in job, a need to modify your living

arrangements, or something else. In addition to searching for different housing, you want to begin saving for a specific financial goal.

You will use the Assignment Template (an Excel file) to create a budget that satisfies the scenario. You’ll also answer reflection questions related to your

goals.

ASSIGNMENT: This assignment has two parts. In part 1, you will create a financial plan based on the scenario described above. You’ll use your

productivity skills to organize your plan, and you’ll use your problem solving skills to determine a reasonable rate of savings to reach your goals. Finally,

you’ll apply your technology skills to ensure that your budget is balanced, and expenditures (like housing) don’t exceed your employment income.

In part 2, you will answer reflection questions about the decisions you made and the skills you leveraged while building your plan.

For this assignment, you will:

• Create a budget for a financial plan using Microsoft Excel, ensuring that the information is organized, accurate, and complete.

• Identify a personal savings goal and a time frame for reaching it.

• Explain how your choice of housing will help you achieve your personal savings goal.

• Align your expenditures to support your goal.

Not Submitted Submitted Scored

You can work on a Touchstone whenever you want, but you must complete
the previous assessments in the Unit before you can submit it. SUBMIT TOUCHSTONE

 It takes 5-7 business days for a Touchstone to be graded once it’s been submitted.

UNIT 2 — TOUCHSTONE 2: Creating a Personal Financial Plan
SCORE

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• Reflect on how creating a step-by-step and organized approach to the assignment helps you adjust the financial priorities in your plan.

Download the Excel template below, which further breaks down the steps involved in this assignment. You will return the completed template as your

Touchstone submission.

 Assignment Template

In order to foster learning and growth, all work you submit must be newly written specifically for this course. Any recycled work will be sent back with a 0,

and you will be given one attempt to redo the Touchstone.

A. Assignment Guidelines

DIRECTIONS: Refer to the lists below throughout the writing process. Do not submit your Touchstone until it meets these guidelines.

1. Creating a Financial Plan

❒ Have you populated the table cells for income, savings, housing, and other expenditures?

❒ Have you selected a rate of savings that is realistic in terms of achieving your financial goal?

❒ Have you verified that the sum of your expenditures (including savings) equals your employment income?

❒ Have you verified that the percent column for the expenditures totals 100%?

2. Reflection Questions

❒ Have you directly answered each question that was asked?

❒ Have you provided sufficient evidence to support each of your answers?

❒ Have you made clear and logical connections between your conclusions and the data used in the annual budget?

❒ Have you referred to the skills in this course, if required by the prompt?

❒ Have you included sufficient detail in your answers?

B. Rubric

Advanced (100%) Proficient (85%) Acceptable (75%) Needs
Improvement
(50%)

Non-Performance
(0%)

Setting Up the Budget
(P1S2-P1S5) (10 points)

Enter values in the annual
budget for income, housing,
and required savings rate
based on the chosen
savings goal.

Annual budget includes
income, housing, and a
savings rate. The savings
rate is calculated correctly
based on one of the given
financial goals and the
chosen time frame. Goal has
been described clearly.

Annual budget includes
income, housing, and a
savings rate. The savings
rate is calculated correctly
based on one of the given
financial goals and the
chosen time frame. Goal
could use more description.

Annual budget includes
income, housing, and a
savings rate but the values
do not match what was
given. The savings rate is
calculated correctly based on
the chosen goal and time
frame. Goal was described.

Annual budget includes
information for income and
housing, but the values do
not match what was given.
The savings rate is calculated
incorrectly based on the
given financial goals, but still
usable for the activity.

Annual budget is missing
information for income and
housing, and the savings rate
is calculated incorrectly
based on the given financial
goals. Goal was not
described at all.

https://app.sophia.org/download/attachment/11639-Unit%202%20Touchstone%20Template.xlsx

Advanced (100%) Proficient (85%) Acceptable (75%) Needs
Improvement
(50%)

Non-Performance
(0%)

Expenditures and
Formulas (P1S6, P1S7) (10
points)

Enter all expenditures in the
annual budget, use formulas
to balance expenditures
with income, and use
formulas to compute the
percentages.

All expenditure cells are
populated, all formulas were
used correctly, income
equals expenditure totals,
and all the percentages are
populated and accurate.

Most expenditure cells are
populated, formulas were
used correctly, income
equals expenditure totals,
and the percentages are
populated and mostly
accurate.

Most expenditure cells are
populated, some formulas
were used correctly, income
nearly equals expenditure
totals, and the percentages
are populated and mostly
accurate.

Some expenditure cells are
populated, formulas were
used incorrectly, income
does not equal expenditure
totals, and the percentages
are populated but some are
inaccurate.

Not many expenditure cells
are populated, formulas were
not used, income does not
equal expenditure totals, and
the percentages are largely
missing.

Selecting a Savings Rate
(P2Q1) (10 points)

Describe why your selected
time frame to reach the
savings goal is realistic. (75
words or less)

Clearly describes why the
selected time frame is
realistic, tightly aligning the
rationale to the original goal
and the savings rate.
Accurately compares savings
to other expenditures.

Mostly describes why the
selected time frame is
realistic, aligning the
rationale to the original goal
and the savings rate.
Compares savings to other
expenditures.

Mostly describes why the
selected time frame is
realistic, loosely aligning the
rationale to the original goal
and the savings rate.
Somewhat compares savings
to other expenditures.

Inaccurately describes why
the selected time frame is
realistic, loosely aligning the
rationale to the original goal
and the savings rate. Does
not discuss the savings rate
or any other annual
expenditures.

Does not describe why the
selected time frame is
realistic and does not give
any rationale as evidence.
Does not discuss the savings
rate or any other annual
expenditures.

Choosing a Housing
Option (P2Q2) (5 points)

Explain your housing choice
in terms of the savings goal,
your family situation, desired
quality of life, and trade-offs.
(75 words or less)

Clearly explains the housing
choice, tightly aligning the
rationale to the savings goal,
family goals, and quality of
life. Accurately compares
housing costs to other
expenditures.

Mostly explains the housing
choice, aligning the rationale
to the savings goal, family
goals, and quality of life.
Compares housing costs to
other expenditures.

Mostly explains the housing
choice, loosely aligning the
rationale to the savings goal,
family goals, and quality of
life. Compares housing costs
to other expenditures.

Loosely explains the housing
choice, but does not align the
rationale to the savings goal,
family goals, or quality of life.
Inaccurately compares
housing costs to other
expenditures.

Does not clearly explain the
housing choice and does not
give any rationale as
evidence. References to the
savings goal, family goals,
and quality of life are
incoherent. Does not
compare housing costs to
other expenditures.

Detailing Expenditures
(P2Q3) (5 points)

Communicate your process
for populating the annual
budget with expenditures,
and relate the steps you
took to reach your selected
savings goal. (75 words or
less)

Clearly describes the
iterative process for
populating the savings rate
and other expenditures
based on embedded,
accurate formulas.

Mostly describes the iterative
process for populating the
savings rate and other
expenditures based on
embedded, accurate
formulas.

Mostly describes the process
for populating the savings
rate and other expenditures.
Leaves out some important
technical details.

Loosely describes the
process for populating the
savings rate and other
expenditures. Leaves out
many important technical
details.

Describes an invalid process
for populating the savings
rate and other expenditures.
Provides no technical details.

Applying Productivity
Strategies (P2Q4) (10
points)

Compare your finished
budget to your original
productivity plan, give
reasons for taking a step-by-
step approach, and relate
strategies used back to the
course content. (150 words
or less)

Provides vivid examples of
how the finished budget
aligns to the original
productivity plan and gives
strong reasons for taking an
iterative approach.
References to course
content are thorough and on
point.

Provides vivid examples of
how the finished budget
aligns to the original
productivity plan and gives
acceptable reasons for
taking an iterative approach.
References to course
content are acceptable.

Provides acceptable
examples of how the finished
budget aligns to the original
productivity plan but gives
weak reasons for taking an
iterative approach.
References to course content
need improvement.

Provides acceptable
examples of how the finished
budget aligns to the original
productivity plan but gives
weak reasons for taking an
iterative approach.
References to course content
are incoherent.

Provides weak examples of
how the finished budget
aligns to the original
productivity plan. Gives no
supporting evidence for the
chosen approach. References
to course content are
missing.

C. Requirements

The following requirements must be met for your submission to be graded:

• Abide by the word count limits where applicable. No answer should exceed 150 words.

• Use a readable 11-point font.

• All writing and data entries must be appropriate for an academic context.

• Writing must be original and customized for this assignment.

• Plagiarism of any kind is strictly prohibited.

• Submission must include your name and the date.

• Include all the assignment components in a single file.

• Acceptable file formats include .xls and .xlsx.

D. Additional Resources

The following resources will be helpful to you as you work on this assignment:

Spreadsheet Basics

Computing with Spreadsheets

Data Visualization

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